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May 14, 2012

‘Horror Stories’ Surfacing of Deadly Columbian Mind-Control Drug

by editor

Experts are warning about a dangerous drug currently being dealt in Colombia that can reportedly rob an individual of their free will, making them vulnerable to criminals and attackers, or erase their memories.

The drug is known as scopolamine, and according to Gizmodo reporter Sam Biddle, the substance, which is derived from plants like cocaine, "will turn you into an insane zombie and probably kill you."

Scopolamine, otherwise known as "The Devil's Breath," was tested by the CIA as a truth serum during the Cold War, and it was also reportedly used by Nazi interrogators during World War II, he added.

Likewise, Beth Stebner of the Daily Mail said that "stories surrounding the drug are the stuff of urban legends, with some telling horror stories of how people were raped, forced to empty their bank accounts, and even coerced into giving up an organ."

VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy interviewed a drug dealer operating out of the Columbian capital of Bogota, who told him that the drug was, in Stebner's words, "frightening for the simplicity in which it can be administered" and prevents a person from remembering anything that happened to them while under the influence.

Duffy himself described his experiences as it relates to the drug on the VICE website.

"When VICE initially asked me to go down to Colombia to dig into this Scopolamine story“¦ I had only a vague understanding of the drug, but the idea of a substance that renders a person incapable of exercising free-will seemed liked a recipe for hilarity and the YouTube hall of fame. I even spent a little time brainstorming the various ways I could transport some of it back to the states and had a pretty good list going of different ways to utilize it on my buddies," he said.

"The original plan was for me to sample the drug myself to really get an idea of the effect it had on folks," Duffy said. "The producer and camera man had flew down to Bogota ahead of me to confirm some meetings and start laying down the groundwork. By the time I arrived a few days later, things had changed dramatically. Their first few days in the country had apparently been such a harrowing montage of freaked-out dealers and unimaginable horror stories about Scopolamine that we decided I was absolutely not going to be doing the drug. All elements of humor and novelty were rapidly stripped away during my first few days in town. After meeting only a couple people with firsthand experience, the story took a far darker turn than we ever could have imagined."